- Safiu Kehinde
Nigerian media outlet, Premium Times, has made clarification after its letter to the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), demanding the certificate of the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, went viral.
As seen in the letter dated 7th of August 2023, Premium Times had invoked the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) demanding the authenticity of Tunji-Ojo’s certificate after noticing some discrepancies in its dateline.
According to the media outlet, the said certificate presented by Tunji-Ojo during his screening for Ministerial appointment, revealed that he served between November 28, 2019 to November 27, 2020.
The certificate was however signed in February 2023, three years after.
Premium Times demanded to reason behind the differences as well as how he was moblilised within the same period of year he was elected to the House of Representatives.
The media outlet also requested for where he carried out his primary assignment and his Community Development Service (CDS) project.
The letter had on Saturday went viral and sparked mixed reactions which was borne out of the recent report by Premium Times on certificate forgery by former Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji.
However, the media outlet in a statement issued on its official X handle on Saturday evening explained that the NYSC had since replied to the letter and confirmed the authenticity of the certificate.
“Our attention has been drawn to the non-contextual circulation of our letter to the NYSC in 2023 regarding the NYSC certificate of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
“We are hereby clarifying that the NYSC replied to our enquiry at the time, saying the certificate of national service in the possession of Mr Tunji-Ojo is authentic.
“Our letter to the NYSC as well as the Corps’ reply are contained in the story below.” The statement read.
According to the report attached to the statement, NYSC affirmed that Tunji-Ojo’s certificate is genuine, noting that the nominee was first mobilised in 2006 but “absconded from the service.”
NYSC said Tunji-Ojo only later resurfaced in 2018 and was remobilised in 2019 and deployed to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in Garki, Abuja, as his place of primary assignment.
The organisation, however, said Tunji-Ojo’s certificate was omitted when others were printed in 2020.
“During the passing out, his Certificate of National Service was not available because it was omitted in the Certificate Printing Application,
“He (Mr Tunji-Ojo) applied for his Certificate of National Service through the State Coordinator FCT on 18th October 2022, and the State Coordinator forwarded the same to the Headquarters and his Certificate of National Service No. A004523631 was produced on 28th February 2023 for collection.” The NYSC said.
However, Premium Times noted clear omissions in the agency’s response to some of the questions.
According to the report, NYSC failed to explain why a sitting member of the National Assembly would be mobilised for another full-time engagement as a corps member.
Also, NYSC would be required to explain whether Tunji-Ojo earned an allowance while in service and how he was able to cope by combining the two engagements.